


Fire and Silk

by juicicaya



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bullying, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Langst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25680892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juicicaya/pseuds/juicicaya
Summary: Lance is saved by the new kid in town.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 120





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this has a horrible amount of mistakes but oh well, i'll fix it later. this fic was meant to be something completely different (a multichap shance with plot) but i went in the wrong direction and cant figure out how to continue it correctly so im just gonna post this as is hope u enjoy!

Lance loves his family. His siblings, nieces and nephews, his mom, and his grandpa are always there for him. They've been a close knit family for forever, and not much could change that.

With that being said, Lance is a little... different. It seems for as long as he can remember there was a fire within him waiting to come out. He always wished to be the center of attention, the one getting praise or rewarded.

But, he was never given the chance. When he was 6 and wanted to do dance like his sister Rachel, it was too expensive for them both to do it, and they needed to focus on Rachel. When he was 10 and wanted to go to the same space school Veronica went to, his grades weren't good enough and they wouldn't bother getting him a tutor. Even now, at 18, his parents won't help him go to college like they did with Marco all those years ago.

It all seems so unfair to him, they've never given him a chance. At this point, he passed the first three years of high school at the top of his class, and is likely to do the same again this year. His mom and grandpa never recognized that, or cared about the work he was putting into his extracurriculars.

Lance wasn't a dancer like Rachel, a genius like Veronica, a prodigal musician like Marco, or a talented athlete like Luis. He was never given the opportunity to be anything, and he never would be. None of his family even really realizes the way they disregard Lance. It's just something he's dealt with and will continue dealing with for a while longer until he can move out.

Irregardless of Lance's complicated home life, he has a much harder time at school. In middle school, Lance was popular. He had friends and hung out with the right people. Maybe some people thought he was annoying, but he had friends to eat lunch with, talk to in class, and hang out with after school and on the weekends.

All of that changed very quickly a few days into his freshman year. He had a fun summer with his friends. They came over pretty frequently, they went to the beach or swam in somebodies pool. It was all simple and fun. The day his life changed went something like this,

Lance entered the locker room, kind of unsure and nervous. He managed to have almost no friends in his class, except for one douchebag named Rolo that had a falling out with Lance's whole friend group over the summer. The guy had said some really horrible and sexist things to one of the girls, and had promptly been dropped because of it.

Lance hadn't talked to Rolo since, so he expected the gym class to be a little awkward. Nothing could of prepared him for the things he heard coming out of his mouth.

Lance was changing quietly by himself, minding his own business. Rolo and his new group of assholes he was friends with were on the other side of the lockers from Lance.

"Yeah, be careful changing in front of that faggot, he totally came on to me last summer." Rolo said, scoffing. Lance froze, super confused and panicking about what he had heard.

"Dude for real?" One of his lackeys responded. 

"Yeah, after I stopped being friends with that group of preppy rich kids-" oh, so that was the narrative he was telling people, "he came crawling back to me and basically begged me to let him suck my dick. What a fag, right?" Rolo says, his laughter decreasing in volume as his group walks out of the locker room.

Lance had never even thought about his sexuality at this point in time and definitely had never, ever, spoken to Rolo or solicited him like that. And surely, everyone in the locker room had heard that. What the fuck was he supposed to do!

In a panic, Lance left the locker room, eyes wide and face red. God, this was not going to be an easy day.

As he continued to go class to class, Lance was on edge, worried this rumor would start spreading to everyone and his life would be over. He doesn't see his friends very often at all during the day, seeing as he's in mostly advanced classes while his friends aren't. It's not until last period study hall that Lance finds out that, yeah, everyone knows.

Most of his friends are sitting at a table together, clearly trying to ignore him. He walks up to the table, hands sweaty and shaking.

"H-hey, guys. It's ok if I sit here, right?"

James Griffin, the guy sitting at the end of the table and in concept the leader of the group, looked Lance up in down.

"Listen Lance, you're cool and all but maybe you should find some new people to chill with now."

Lance's eyes widen, and he laughs nervously.

"You can't be serious right?" He hopes to god, if there is one, this is all a big elaborate joke.

"It's one thing to be gay, but it's kinda fucked up to do that shit with Rolo after the things he said to me." The girl sitting next to James speaks up, the girl who Rolo had harassed.

"But I didn't-" Lance gets cut off by Kinkade, one of the other guys at the table.

"Just leave, Lance." He huffs out, voice low and scratchy.

Lance tries to speak, but nothing comes out. He shouldn't even bother telling them it was all a lie Rolo made up at this point, they clearly wouldn't believe him. He nods, and turns and walks out to the bathroom, deciding to spend his study hall sobbing in the bathroom.

He doesn't tell anybody the truth about what happened.

On Lance's first day of senior year, he's more or less excited that he's on the last stretch of a hellish high school career. He's had virtually no friends, and has been bullied day after day. Rolo has made sure that every living moment has been hell, and none of his ex-friends have tried to stop him.

The closest he has to friends are Hunk and Pidge, but even they don't seem to always want him around. It's no big deal for Lance, he's used to it at this point.

Heading to his first class on the first day of school, he's nervous to meet his psychics teacher. Supposedly, Professor Coran had just retired unexpectedly. He taught chemistry to Lance when he was a sophomore, and Lance loved his class. It's unfortunate he wouldn't be able to teach him physics, but maybe this new teacher wouldn't be too bad.

One of the first to enter the classroom, Lance makes eye contact with the new teacher. He has completely white hair, but looks very young, like this could likely be his first teaching job.

Lance musters up a smile, walking towards the rows of desk and taking a seat in the front corner desk. The only other currently in the room is a kid with black hair down to his shoulders. Kind of like... a mullet?

The teacher is talking to this kid, who has his arms crossed with a grumpy look on his face. Lance tries to mind his own business, getting out a notebook and pen to take any notes if he needs to for the class.

Eventually, more kids pool in and everyone sits, class starting with the ring of the bell.

"Welcome to Psychics! My name is Takashi Shirogane, but you can call me Mr. Shiro."

Later on during lunch, Lance sits quietly with Hunk and Pidge, who are having a particularly animated argument over some science shit he doesn't understand. Lance has a book open in his lap, and is snacking on a bag of chips he got from Pidge. Lance doesn't like to eat much during school, but usually Hunk or Pidge bring him something anyway.

Lance's concentrated reading is interrupted but a shift of weight next to him, seemingly like someone had just sat next to him. With Hunk to Lance's left and Pidge across from Hunk, this is a little strange.

Hunk and Pidge pay no notice, their conversation uninterrupted. Lance looks up and over through his slightly overgrown bangs, eyebrows furrowed.

Next to him is that grumpy kid from his psychics class, mindlessly ripping open a sandwich bag and digging in. Lance almost just turns back to his book, allowing the kid to just do whatever he wants, but part of him worries that somehow the kid is here to tease him.

Things like this usually happen at the beginning of every year, with some freshman convinced by Rolo to come over and pretend to be Lance's friend.

"What do you want?" Lance says, probably harsher than it needs to be, but gets the message across. The kid stops mid bite of his sandwich, glancing over at Lance.

"Jus' needed somewhere to sit." He huffs out, continuing the assault on his poor PB&J.

"You're not... here to make fun of me?" Lance asks, eyes narrowed at the kid.

"Just eating a sandwich, dude." The mullet headed kid says, muffled around a mouthful of food.

"Oh, ok. You're new here right? What's your name?" Lance asks, straightening out his posture a bit.

"Keith." The kids says, eating the last bite of his sandwich.

"I'm Lance."

"I know." Keith states, crumbling up his trash and standing, tossing the sandwich bag in the nearby trashcan before walking out of the lunchroom with his hands in his pockets.

After school, Lance skates home. Club activities don't start until next week, so he heads home directly after the bell rings. The skateboard rides kinda shitty, with it's old wheels and barely intact deck. He can't complain, he found it in the basement. It's likely something of Luis's or Marco's that never went with them when they moved out.

Lance moves back and forth on the usually empty road in the middle of his town. Hearing an engine rumble behind him, he moves to the left side of the road and continues skating.

That's is, until he notices the car (truck) slow down to a stop next to him and someone call his name. 

"Hey, Lance. Want a ride home?"

Lance stops on his skateboard, pulls out his earbuds and looks to the driver, which just so happens to be Keith. There is music coming from the car as well, volume low but audible. Keith's elbow is rested on the windowsill, and his head is leaned back against the seat.

Lance looks up and down the street, confused as to why this is happening to him. With seemingly no one else on the street, Lance looks back at Keith.

"Did someone put you up to this?" Lance says, skateboard now in hand.

"Just get in the car." Keith says, rolling his eyes. Lance narrows his eyes at the kid, not really knowing what to do. He decides, fuck it, what's the worst that can happen. Lance jogs around to the other side of the car, climbing into the rusty truck.

Keith turns up the music a bit before starting to drive again. He makes a turn in one direction before Lance realizes that he never said where he lives.

"Oh, I live down near the-" Keith cuts him off before he can finish.

"I have to stop by somewhere first, if that's okay." Keith grunts out, looking over at Lance with an unreadable face.

"Uh, sure, I guess that's fine." Lance huffs, putting his elbow up on the windowsill and resting his head against his hand. Looking out the window, Keith drives them in the direction of a place in town Lance doesn't venture into very often.

It's not necessarily a bad place, but it's where more crime and violence happens in his town. Lance has no business being over here. Eventually, after driving for about 10 minutes, he realizes they are at a park.

What kind of game is Keith playing with him right now?

Keith parks and turns off the car, hoping out of the drivers seat. Keith moves around the car before stopping at Lance's side.

"You coming or not?" Keith says, a slight smile on his face.

"Why would I-"

"Just trust me." Keith says, turning and walking away.

Lance sighs, running his hand through his hair before saying fuck it and getting out of the car. The park is on the edge of town, surrounded by woods and trails. There is a couple families at the park, and Lance wonders what the hell Keith's little plan is. The weather is nice, still very hot despite the inevitable approach of fall. Lance feels a little warm, especially in the jeans and hoodie that he's wearing.

Lance starts following after Keith, a few feet behind him.

"Where are we going?" Lance speaks up, curious as to what's really going on.

"Stop asking questions." Keith replies, not even looking back at Lance. Lance jogs a view steps to catch up with Keith, now walking next to him.

"Why me?"

"You intrigue me." Keith says simply.

"Wh-" Lance tries to ask more but Keith continues on.

"I thought it was weird that as the new kid, someone was trying to befriend me, just so I could help bully you. Then I did some asking around and found out that you got outed when you were a freshman."

"I'm not-"

"Then I heard people calling you a slut, and so many things like that, which seemed so wrong for the quiet kid in my physics class. So.. I just wanted to get to know you more I guess?" Keith says all at once, stopping briefly to look at him.

"I- yeah, okay." Lance says, kind of speechless. Lance just lets Keith take him wherever after that. Eventually, they reach the destination.

In front of Lance is a pretty large pond, a dock in front of him the protrudes onto the pond about 15 feet. Keith and Lance walk to the end of it, sitting with their feet dangling off the side. The water isn't high enough for their feet to touch, but Lance worries about ruining his sneakers so he takes them off anyway.

"This is... really nice." Lance admits, looking around at the break in the trees with the sun beaming through. There is birds chirping, and he can even see a few ducks out further on the pond.

"Yeah, my mom used to bring me here when I was little." Keith says, leaning back and laying down on the wooden dock.

"Your mom..?"

"She left when I was 6. Long story."

"Oh." Lance says, kind of feeling bad for asking. He then lays down too, shoulders flush with Keith's.

"So, what happened when you were outed?" Keith asks.

"Well, the funny thing is I'm not actually gay." Lance laughs bitterly. Keith looks over at him, surprised. Lance continues looking up at the sky.

"The summer before my freshman year, Rolo did some shitty things to my friends, and I guess he was specifically pissed at me? I honestly still don't really understand so much of what happened." Lance admits, moving to fold his hands behind his head. 

"He sounds like a fucking dick." Keith spits, looking back up.

"He is. Cause then when school started, he spread a rumor about me coming on to him, which never happened. And then my friends got mad at me for supposedly trying to fuck Rolo, because they all hated him from the summer. Then I lost all of my friends, and everybody thought I was a slutty gay guy. Since then Rolo bullies me pretty relentlessly, and nobody ever stands up for me. It's just kind of how it is now." Lance shrugs, sitting back up and looking down at his hands.

"So you're not even gay?"

"Nope. At least, I don't think so. Maybe I am. I think I like girls though, so I'd be bisexual. I don't know." Lance says, shrugging.

"You can kiss me if you want." Keith says nonchalantly. Lance snaps his head back to look at Keith still laying against the dock.

"Why would you want to kiss me?!" Lance shrieks, face red. Keith laughs, making Lance feel even more embarrassed.

"Cause you're cute? And nice, and down to earth." Keith says, sitting up to look at Lance closer. Lance gets even redder, not really knowing how to react. Instead of trying to reply with something, Lance just blanks and leans forward, smashing their lips together. Keith leans back a little to make the kiss more gentle before eventually Lance pulls away. He covers his blushing face with his hands.

"I'm guessing... that was your first kiss?" Keith chuckles. Lance nods, hands still covering his face. Keith just gently scoots closer, peeling Lance's hands off his face. Keith guides Lance's chin so they are looking each other in the eye. Then, almost like it was in slow motion, Keith leans in for another kiss.

This time, it's gentle and more like a kiss should be. Lance let's Keith control what's happening, just leaning in and doing his best to kiss back. They make out for maybe a minute before Keith pulls away again. He opens his eyes to look at Lance, who is significantly less red.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Keith asks.

"Can we... can we do it again?" Lance whispers. It's almost sexy how Lance's lips are swollen and his eyes are glossy, but it's mostly just cute. 

With no reply, Keith dives back in, more enthusiastic this time instead of being gentle. Lance is also becoming more responsive, even being the one to start mushing their tongues together. 

Sadly, they get interrupted by Lance's phone ringing. Lance pulls away, quickly fishing his phone out of his pocket.

"Shit, it's my mom." Lance hisses, answering immediately.

Lance listens to his mom on the phone, saying very few words. He says I love you and goodbye as the call ends, tucking his phone away and looking at Keith.

"I have to go home." Lance says, a tint of sadness in his voice. "This was fun. Maybe we can hang out again soon?"

"O-of course. I'm free whenever." Keith says. Lance stands up, holding a hand out to help keep up. They walk out of the woods and back to Keith's car, hand in hand.


	2. Far Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to add another chapter to tie this up a bit. I hope you enjoy! Sorry that the pacing of this is kind of rushed, I'm inpatient and decided to post it as is.

About a week later, Keith and Lance were dating. They hung out a bunch after school, kissed a lot more, and quickly became pretty close. Lance never expected something like this to happen to him. It was almost weird, he hasn't really hung out with anybody since middle school. He saw Hunk and Pidge in his classes and a lot of clubs, but that was it. Lance felt like a little kid again.

It was hard for Lance to not grow addicted to Keith. He brought an aspect of being a kid that Lance was deprived of for so long. It was weird the first time Lance had Keith over the day after they kissed, but it grew normal dangerously quickly. Maybe it's bad to put himself all in... but he couldn't help it. Doesn't he deserve a little happiness?

It's Monday, and Lance is sitting in the passenger seat of Keith's truck as they are on the way to school. Music plays quietly and Keith has one hand on the wheel, and the other firmly holding Lance's thigh. No one they went to school with knew they were dating, and he would like to keep it that way. Keith disagreed, but once Lance got in depth about some of his experiences with Rolo bullying him, he had no choice but to support Lance. It was understandable, Rolo was awful. It didn't necessarily make sense honestly.

Curiosity about the whole situation was tearing Keith up inside.

"So, what's with Rolo?" Keith asks out of nowhere. Lance looks over at him, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"You know what's wrong with Rolo." Lance laughs.

"I guess I know, but it really doesn't make any sense. Why's he so obsessed with you anyway?" Keith grunts.

"I don't know Keith! Let's just drop is, okay?" Lance exclaims. There was no use dwelling over Rolo. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle at this point.

-

Keith and Lance were walking down the hall to their first period class, almost shoulder to shoulder. They were chatting leisurely, just about a few things like homework and how Lance was dreading gym that day.

No one was expecting to hear Rolo's voice down the hallway. Everyone knew he usually came in late, so this was a surprise.

"Hey, Lance! And is that... oh yeah! Keith!" Rolo says, acting dumb, because he clearly knew it was Keith. "Wait up!"

Lance rolls his eyes and Keith groans. They both turn around to look back at the prick running down the hallway and weaving between people. He eventually stops in front of them, catching his breath quickly.

"What do you want?" Lance asks plainly. Rarely does Rolo choose to converse with him, it's usually just shouting mean comments from across the hall or in the lunch room. This is a rare encounter.

"Aah, just checking up on my buddy Keith! I tried to warn him about you, but I guess he didn't get the message." Rolo leans forward to put his hand on Keith's shoulder, but Keith grabs his wrist before he even gets the chance to make contact. He contemplates twisting it behind Rolo's back and pining him to the ground, but figures that might not be the best idea.

"I'm not your buddy." Keith growls, eyes fierce. He shoves Rolo's arm away, turning around and walking away. Rolo looks to Lance with wide eyes but Lance just shrugs, following Keith.

"I guess the fags getting his dick wet with the new kid." Rolo spits out, clicking his tongue. In an instant, Keith turns around and has his hand twisted in Rolo's collar and backs him up until his back hits the closest set of lockers.

"I suggest you shut your fucking mouth. I'm not the one who's been obsessed with the 'fag' since my freshman year of highschool, yeah? At least we aren't afraid to admit what we are. Just a couple of fags." Keith spits in Rolo's face. "And I suggest you keep Lance's name out of your mouth. Or I swear to god I will beat you until-" Keith had drowned out every noise around him. He couldn't hear Lance's pleas to stop or the kids shouting and drinking in the drama.

Nothing got through until he was suddenly pulled away and he was forced to drop Rolo. He turns around to see Shiro. And he looked absolutely furious. Shiro grabs on to Lance's wrist and pulls them down the hall and towards the office. Rolo is left in the hallway, his groupies herding around him.

Instead of being pulled into the office door, Shiro stops and pulls them down an empty hallway. He lets them go and they stand there, confused. Shiro exhales and rubs his temples before he turns to speak to them.

"Keith, is it possible for you to go to a new school and NOT fight?" He asks, exasperated.

"You heard what he said! What was I supposed to do, ignore-" 

"Yes! That's what you are supposed to do Keith! This is a small fucking town, and there's no way I'm going to get the principle on your side with this! Rolo is going to go to the office in a couple minutes, and I'll have no choice but to drag you boys there. And I want to lie and help you here, but my hands are tied." Shiro sighs, clearly stressed out by the situation.

Around here, Shiro could lose his job over defending a gay kid. It's nothing like the schools in California Keith hopped between throughout his childhood. Back here in their hometown, things were different.

"So what are we supposed to do, sir?" Lance asks, hands balled up in his hoodie pocket.

"Come with me to the office and accept your suspensions? There really isn't anything else I can do. I just wanted to warn you guys before we got to the office."

In front of him, Lance turns to Keith and makes a couple signals with him hands along with a few weird facial expressions. Keith looks confused before it clicks and he nods enthusiastically. Shiro watches the whole thing, even more confused.

With no warning, Keith and Lance pull their backpacks off their shoulders and slide them at top speeds at Shiro's feet, and he falls down onto his knees with the force. Keith starts running at him, taking a running leap over his head. Lance runs at a slower pace behind, slowing in front of Shiro.

"Sorry!" He says, laughing as he follows behind Keith, now going just as fast. Their bags busted open when they were thrown, and now Shiro is knelt on the floor, surrounded by notebooks and pens. God, how is this his life?

-

Lance and Keith barely make it out of the closest exit with a hall monitor who caught sight of them hot on their tail. Keith considers getting in his car and ditching that way, but it would probably be more wise to just grab some random kids bike, get as far as possible, and then abandon it so no one could find them. At this point, the word was out that they were gay, and a couple nonetheless. Soon the school would find out, then Lance's mom and grandpa, and eventually the whole town would know. Honestly, Keith nor Lance wanted to be around to watch that spread.

Keith grabs a bike from the bike rake out front, the rusty chain snapping under the force. He hops on, Lance quickly standing up on the pegs on the back. Seconds later, the are clear off the sidewalk and eventually of school property, making their way through town. They hadn't shared any words, but suddenly Lance let go of Keith's shoulders. He threw his hands in the air and started cheering. Hollering and crying out with joy. Keith smiled throwing his hands up too until the bike wobbled a bit too much and Lance shrieked loud enough for Keith to let out a laugh and put his hands back on the handles.

Lance leans down, wrapping his arms around Keith's neck with a smile on his face. With Lance's chest pressed to Keith's back, it's so warm. The sun's relentless upon them, and everything is perfect. Lance felt like Keith had found the key to unlock everything inside of him, and finally it was all pooling out.

They ride aimlessly in the direction of the city just on the outskirts of the town. They didn't have a plan, but maybe they would catch a bus as far as they could go.

Far, far away until the only thing Lance had left of his family was his late father's coat on his back and the crumbled up family picture in his wallet.

So far away, farther then Keith had ever been before. So far Shiro couldn't drag him back to this stupid town even if he tried.

Maybe, Keith and Lance so far away together wouldn't be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aah again, I might continue this but I'm not sure. If I do, I might do it as a part two instead of doing more chapter on this. Let me know what you think, I love comments and any feedback!


End file.
